A Solid Majority of Voters Say Their Personal Finances Will Be Affected by Congressional Failure to Pass Financial Bailout

New York, NY - Heading into tonight's Vice-Presidential debate, today's Diageo/Hotline Daily Tracker Poll shows that the Obama-Biden ticket continues to lead the McCain-Palin ticket in the head-to-head by five points, with results virtually unchanged since yesterday.

In today's Poll, Obama-Biden is at 47%, McCain-Palin is at 42%, with 10% of voters undecided.

General Election Ballot: McCain-Palin v. Obama-Biden*

Focus on the "Bailout/Rescue"

The Poll finds that a substantial majority of voters believe that Congressional rejection of the bailout/rescue package will impact their personal financial situation. Specifically, 60% of voters say they will be impacted a "great deal" or "somewhat" in the next 2-3 months.

In particular, the Poll finds that 65% of college graduates think they will be impacted personally, compared with 57% of voters with less than a college education who say the same.

How Much a Bailout Failure Would Impact Voters' Personal Financial Situations*

On the larger issue of which candidate voters think would better handle the economy, Obama maintains an eight-point lead over John McCain (47%-39%).

Who Would Do the Best Job Handling the Economy?*

Focus on the Vice-Presidential Candidates

With tonight's Vice-Presidential debate on voters' minds, the Poll finds that Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden is perceived favorably by 47% of voters and unfavorably by 32% of voters. Today's Poll finds that Biden's favorability rating has increased five points from 42% earlier this week.

Favorability: Joe Biden*

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin's image ratings have remained relatively stable this week, with 45% of voters holding a favorable impression of her and 40% of voters holding an unfavorable impression of her.

Favorability: Sarah Palin*

The Poll also finds Republican enthusiasm has dipped a bit since Sarah Palin's RNC Convention speech.

Specifically, on the day after Sarah Palin's speech, the Poll found that 59% of Republican voters reported enthusiastically supporting the candidates they planned to vote for; today's Poll finds 48% of Republican voters to be enthusiastic. By comparison, the Poll finds enthusiasm among Democratic voters to have ticked downward only two points from 68% to 66%.

* data presented in charts based on rolling 3-day average of 900+ interviews concluded the previous day (based on at least 300 interviews conducted daily).

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